Proven (Daughters of the Sea #1) (30 page)

S
TASIA

"How long can you go without the elixir?"

"Eight, nine hours at the most," Sebastian mumbled and looked up at me numbly. "Maybe longer, I don't know."

I crouched next to him amidst a particularly strong wind gusting around the top of the monolith and wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders. The news of Fallon's death had yet to sink in, but I harbored doubt about what Nadia said. Fallon could still be alive and well. I didn't put it past Nadia to use everything possible against us. And if she knew the how close Fallon and Sebastian were, she wouldn't think twice about taking advantage of that to weaken him. But I had no ground to stand on. It was just a thought; one of many swirling in my head.

He gazed out to the horizon before speaking again. "You didn't really believe that Fallon would be helping Selene did you?"

"No," I admitted with conviction. "Selene can make anyone believe what she wants them to believe. I'm sure she made sure Olivia believed Fallon deceived her. After letting Olivia go, Selene wanted to make sure we wouldn't come looking for Fallon."

"So she could kill her," he growled. "She was destined! Selene knew Fallon would be her downfall, but without obtaining her full essence yet...Fallon never stood a chance."

"Maybe our fate isn't as set in stone as we thought," I mused slowly. While Fallon's death was incomprehensible to me, it was just another piece of the puzzle that clicked into place for Selene. She enjoyed playing the puppet master because in her mind, she was unstoppable. Unfortunately, recent events were proving her right.

However, in the pit of my stomach, her untimely passing actually provided a sliver of hope that my fate could be altered, even though I knew that was selfish. I knew it was in vain, but that small piece of hope continued to hang on. I hugged Sebastian's neck and reminded myself that Sebastian had been much closer with Fallon than I was.

"I'm so sorry, Sebastian," I consoled him. He fixed his angry blue eyes on the horizon and rocked back and forth. His voice became eerily steady and the clenching of his jaw gave away the rawness of his emotions.

"In this realm, death is seen as the ultimate end, but there is a worse fate possible. Death in its truest form is actually freedom; freedom for our souls and the freedom to spend eternity with those that we owe our lives to. To spend eternity in the safety of the arms of family." His faraway gaze flitted to my own and I recognized an enlightenment there I had seen before...in Mom's eyes. I was momentarily mesmerized and waited for him to continue.

"I saw the Elysian Fields," I admitted and then clarified in short spurts of emotion. "Just the outskirts. I saw Mom. I saw beauty. I saw freedom."

"She told me." He grinned at me lovingly, but it was soon replaced by indignation once more. "I don't grieve Fallon's death. Her death should have been a celebration. A new beginning. That is what has been stolen from her. Not only her destiny, but her eternal life as well."

"Nadia wants to steal that from us too," I blurted out, and then realized what he was trying to tell me. He nodded and then repeated his first words, dripping with significance.

"In the Underworld, there are worse fates than death."

My heart collapsed upon itself as I considered what he said. Death for Fallon should have simply taken her to the Underworld where she would spend eternity in the Elysian Fields, the divine resting place for those souls containing essence. A place Sebastian had been to before. A place he left in order to return to this realm, and where he hoped to go back to on the next full moon. Unless Nadia had her way.

"To be a servant to the Reaper is a burden no soul should bear, especially not one as pure as Fallon." Sebastian gritted his teeth and tossed a rock off of the cliff to its death. "She'll own half our family by the time she's done."

"If she's successful..." I contended. "If she did, in fact, script our names and secure our souls for her collection..."

"...All three of us will be doomed to an eternity of servitude and torture."

"...While the Nereids die off and our Order fades away forever," I finished for him gravely. He suddenly turned to face me with a curious gleam in his eye.

"You saw your name in the Book. You told no one?"

"I told Olivia," I divulged. "Apparently what I thought was the end of my prophecy...wasn't."

"It said your name would be scripted and your soul stolen by the Reaper?"

"In not so many words," I muttered.

"Mother should have warned me." He considered the news for a minute and then frowned at me. "You should have told me."

"I didn't want you to worry. Or anyone else, for that matter," I sighed in defeat. "And I didn't want to take anyone down with me."

"Looks like Nadia's taking care of that for you." He chuckled darkly. "Three souls for the price of one."

"There has to be a way to alter our fate!" I declared. Unfortunately, I didn't know if that was true. I simply wanted it to be true. And until it was proven otherwise, I would hold on to that hope.

"Says the Chosen one," he laughed at me. "You guys never cease to amaze me... always forgetting how lucky you are."

"'You guys'?" I stared at him in disbelief. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"The Chosen ones," he air quoted with a teasing grin. "I always thought life would be so much easier if I knew I had a specific purpose. And to have a fancy prophecy on top of that?"

"Are you serious?" I gawked at him incredulously.

"I still have no idea what my fate is supposed to be. And I'm already dead! I'm just floundering around blindly hoping I don't screw things up too bad."

"Easier?!" I continued staring at him, my blood pressure rising with each word that came out of his smirking mouth. "You think it's easier to be shackled to a fate you didn't get to choose?"

"I always wished I had a prophecy I could check and see what was coming next," he continued wistfully, blissfully unaware of my growing disgust.

"Why don't you take mine, then!" I bellowed at him. Finally realizing how upset he was making me, he faced me with an apologetic smile, but I was already raging. "Since my life is so damn easy!"

"No, no." He gripped my arms, which flailed around with irritation. He was genuinely surprised by my reaction. "I didn't mean it like that!"

"How else could-" I stopped mid-sentence as a realization hit me. "Wait. Weren't you Chosen?"

"Me?" he snickered. "Not even close."

"But you're no different than me," I reminded him. "Same blood, remember?"

"Same blood," His features softened with tenderness. "But I'm nowhere near your level in every category that actually matters." He began ticking off on his fingers, "Bravery, essence, strength, stubbornness, leadership..."

"You're Achilles," I reminded him, my tone deadpan.

"And you're Anastasia," he countered with a crooked grin before continuing. "You're the Chosen one, 'lil sis. My claim to fame is my skills with a spear and this ravishing physique. In the essence department I was merely immortal."

"Except for your heel," I mentioned quietly, unsure if the legend was actually true.

"How'd you know about that?" His eyes widened in surprise.

"Everyone knows that."

"Everyone knows what, exactly?" His eyes narrowed with suspicion.

It quickly dawned on me that he didn't realize his story was in history books all over the world. To prove it, I went on. "Mom made you immortal by submerging you in the River Styx when you were a baby, but since she had to hold on to your heel, it was your only weakness. I learned about it in school. Everyone did."

"Dad thought she was trying to drown me." He smiled wistfully in remembrance. "At least that's how he tells it. I can't believe anyone would think that was history lesson material. What about my victories? My men?"

"We learned about that too, but I honestly don't remember that part."

"It's good to know where your loyalties lie." He raised any eyebrow at me.

"I didn't know you were my brother!" I pushed him lightly. "At that point, you were just some ancient dude who led armies."

"Just some ancient dude?" He held a hand to his heart like I'd hurt his feelings.

"Plus, I always found it strange that you owned two horses but always seemed to be riding around in a chariot. Why didn't you just ride the horses?"

"A chariot?" he groaned in disgust. "I detest those things! They're dreadfully slow and fall apart in the blink of an eye." He began to grin smugly and then peeked at me from the corner of his eye. "I might need to do some light reading... You know, just to make sure they got it right."

"There is one other thing," I started with a teasing smile. If he was shocked they put him in the history books, he'd be blown away by this next tidbit. He leaned forward with anticipation. "The humans named a body part after you."

"A body part?" He stared at me with cynicism before his eyes lit up and he kissed his bicep. He kept it flexed in the air while he waited for my answer with a bold smile. I rolled my eyes at him and scrambled forward to grab his left ankle. He tried to move it out of my way, but I caught it just in time. Just as I suspected, adorning the back of his heel was an unassuming, circular scar.

"The Achilles tendon." I grabbed the thin length of tendon playfully.

"Tendon?" He inspected where I was grabbing. "Is that what this is?"

"It connects your heel to your leg," I explained. "That's how your ankle moves."

"Strange," he chuckled. "I have so many other great assets other than my...tendons."

"It's the place of your greatest weakness. And...what ultimately killed you." I treaded carefully in case it was a sore subject. I know my own murder would be, if I were him.

"I see the irony wasn't lost on them." He smiled down at me and gazed back out onto the horizon. He peered at me with a challenging smirk. "So, Anastasia, Leader of the Tydes. Which body part did they name after you?"

"They didn't name one after me," I muttered, knowing I had just opened a door I wouldn't be able to close.

"Exactly," he affirmed and then lifted his chin with a sarcastic lilt. "Try not to be jealous."

"I'm not jealous."

"Of course you are."

After several shoves and one hellish Indian burn that made Sebastian surrender, we finally settled back and decided to force ourselves to get some sleep.  The surface of the rock we were perched upon suddenly felt much colder and incredibly barren, while the infinite sky above stretched to every horizon; adding to the isolating reality of our current situation. Our hushed voices and the waves below were the only sounds that could be heard for miles. My eyelids became just as heavy as the rest of my body felt, and the impending downslide of my health shot to the forefront of my mind. How was I supposed to defeat Selene, save Sebastian, myself and the Tydes from sure annihilation, if I could barely stand? I put my palms against my closed eyes, searching for a loophole I hadn't thought of yet.

"I sent her to Tartarus once," I declared.

"Hmm?" Sebastian mumbled incoherently. I continued thinking out loud. Something about speaking my problems to the sky above soothed me.

"I can do it again."

"Your essence is low." Sebastian lazily turned his head in my direction. "My essence is low."

"That changes nothing," I asserted. It came out with much more conviction that I actually had inside.

"I think it kind of does," he resisted heartily. "Saving the world will be pretty difficult when our bodies give out and Nadia owns our souls."

"If." I sat up straighter and looked him in the eye. "If our bodies give out and Nadia owns our souls. It hasn't happened yet."

"Ever the optimist." He grinned at me and continued speaking, but his words were lost on me. My attention splintered instantly as I sensed a warm whisper travel across my skin. A darkness. His darkness.

S
TASIA

"Finn..." I whispered, and then louder to Sebastian, "Finn."

In the midst of doubt, I stood without a word and dove from the cliff. The most powerful forces of the universe could not have swayed the effect his darkness had on my heart at that moment. Cool air soared across my skin as the water below rushed to greet me. The water burned my face and shoulders as I hit the surface with tremendous force, but I barely felt it. All of my senses instinctually scanned the sea and immediately honed in on a myriad of essences to my right, including Finn's. I should have felt them sooner. They should be stronger. I should be able to discern who they belonged to. That grim recognition added to the fatigue tugging at my arms and reminded me of my precariously low essence. A rope of desperation filled my stomach at the waning of my abilities and threatened to strangle my remaining hope. As I darted to the right and towards the mass of essences, I felt the vibration of Sebastian crashing into the surface of the water above me.

"Finn?" I tried. Nothing. I could feel a thickness holding my thoughts prisoner in my own mind.

The ensuing claustrophobia took me by surprise and my desperation to see him grew in intensity. I always felt stronger, more capable in his arms. He had a way of stabilizing the litany of thoughts whirling in my mind, grasping for the smallest shreds of sanity. His very presence stopped my world from tilting and spiraling out of control.